Section 208 of the Income Tax Act
Income-tax Act, 2025: s.404
Section 208 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 corresponds to section 404 (Conditions of liability to pay advance tax) of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Read section 404 of the 2025 Act
Correspondence checked against the ICAI tabular mapping of the two Acts and the BharatTax.co section commentary.
The decision most relied on for Section 208 is DIT v. Jacabs Civil Incorporated/ Mitsubhishi Corporation (330 ITR 578), cited in 115 of the 202 judgments on BharatTax that turn on this section.
Leading authorities on Section 208
Interest under Section 234B is generally not leviable on non-residents whose income is subject to tax deduction at source under Section 195, provided the non-resident assessee did not induce short or non-deduction of TDS by the payer.
An Assessing Officer (AO) must specifically record dissatisfaction with the assessee's claim for disallowance under Section 14A before applying Rule 8D for computation. The dissatisfaction of the CIT(A) or ITAT does not automatically make Rule 8D applicable.
The Kolkata ITAT determined that the Supreme Court rulings in Tata Tea and Godrej & Boyce do not present contradictory principles regarding Section 115-O and Section 14A, holding that dividend income, though taxed under Section 115-O, is not part of the shareholder's total income under Section 10(33), but this does not absolve the taxpayer from disallowances under Section 14A.
Interest under Section 234B is not leviable when the entire income of the assessee was deductible at source under Section 195. Provisions for advance tax under Sections 234B and 234C are not applicable if tax is deductible at source under Section 195.
